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Dispatches from Sporting *Lyon
"Gretzky, his immense skills undeniable, has to be one of the most boring men I ever met," wrote Mordecai Richler in 1985, neatly lopping off the head of hockey's holiest sacred cow at the height of his record-setting tenure with the Edmonton Oilers. It was an act as irreverent as it was inconceivable. It was pure Richler. In more than four decades writing about sports as fan, raconteur, pundit, and prankster, Richler never made a cent sitting on his opinion, and so it is that Dispatches from the Sporting Life offers a rich and often controversial take on a realm so seemingly removed from that of the writer. Richler selected all these editorials, essays, and excerpts before he died in 2001; all have been published elsewhere. Though known primarily for best-selling fiction like The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and Barney's Version, Richler was an avid sports enthusiast (if not participant, save for the occasional fly-fishing sortie in his native Quebec), with particular passions for baseball, boxing, and hockey, and for his beloved Habs in particular. In these 20 pieces, Richler covers all the bases, from fondly recalled games of stick in Montreal's Jewish ghetto and laments for baseball and hockey in his hometown to hilarious encounters with Ben Weider, Gordie Howe, and, while on safari in Kenya, then vice-president George Bush. Those familiar with Richler the man might consider skipping the adoring, albeit somewhat revisionist, history of Mordecai and Montreal in the foreword, written by son Noah Richler. And though much of his magazine work (many of these pieces first ran in GQ and The New York Times) lacks the warmth of his fictional prose, his witty ruminations on the apparent contradictions between the writer/intellectual and the athlete/sports fan are strikingly observed. Entertaining, wide-ranging, and leisurely, Dispatches from the Sporting Life finds a relaxed Richler taking aim, one last time, at those who got in the way of his belief in the purity and sanctity of sport. Best of all, his shots are always on net. --Jamie O'Meara
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
4 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
About the author
Mordecai Richler
87 books363 followersWorking-class Jewish background based novels, which include
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
(1959) and
Saint Urbain's Horseman
(1971), of Canadian writer Mordecai Richler.
People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.
A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.
Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.
Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.
Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.
Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.
In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.
Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.
Richler died of cancer.
People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.
A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.
Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.
Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.
Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.
Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.
In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.
Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.
Richler died of cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 2, 2010
A posthumous collection of articles about and related to sports, if you define sports as pre-1985 ice hockey, the Montreal Expos, or Montreal Royals. Anachronistic prose that can make one nostalgic for bygone eras.
January 26, 2019
Richler always entertains - fishing trips to safaris to his love of baseball. His acerbic take on humanity in combination with his droll use of language makes me long for more from his pen. My favourite essays were on his love of hockey, particularly Les Habitants - his beloved Canadiens - their downfall, the spoiling of North American hockey, the NHL, the end of the great old game. I wonder what he would make of the Vegas Knights reaching the final in their first season?
July 9, 2017
When it came to writing, the late, great Richler had a panoply of strong suits and among them was sports. Highlights of this great collection include the hilarious opener about a 'dream' salmon-fishing vacation in Scotland and two long-form essays; one regarding the rich baseball history of Montreal and, the other, about the faded fortunes of the Montreal Canadiens (as of 1984!)
February 21, 2021
The pieces are a little dated but the writing is lively and entertaining. Warning: the language in the last piece, an excerpt from one of Richler's novels is archaic if you get my drift.
June 7, 2025
Incredibly dated in parts (for good and bad), it feels important that these articles were collected into a book and not lost to history. Some great sports writing.
July 26, 2007
Great writing on sports from one of Canada's finest authors. I enjoyed the takes on everything from the Montreal Canadaiens' glory days, Gretzky, Sandy Koufax, Snooker, the sports page, fishing, etc.
Currently reading
November 30, 2008A great view into Canadian sporting and world views from late last century.
June 26, 2011
Stew and Harv's summer pick
September 15, 2014
love richler's style and humor. a good read for the off season.
November 26, 2011
Humorous
Brilliantly-written
Take-or-leave subject matter
Brilliantly-written
Take-or-leave subject matter
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews